The decision of the national COVID-19 crisis management team to allow as of April all vaccinated persons to cross the border without quarantine or testing was very important for domestic tourism, but as the season approaches, the sector is aware that there are still many obstacles to achieving significant tourist turnover.
The most significant obstacle refers to children aged 7-16 entering the country. They cannot be vaccinated because the vaccines have so far been registered for persons over the age of 16, and yet they are not in the group of people who would be exempted from quarantine or getting a PCR test.
According to domestic regulations, all children up to the age of seven are exempted from the obligation to present a test, a certificate of recovery from COVID-19 or a certificate of vaccination when crossing the border, which will make it much more difficult or expensive for all foreign tourists with older children to come to Croatia in the summer.
Several domestic tourist associations have sent an initiative to the Croatian Public Health Institute (HZJZ) about ten days ago to exempt all children under the age of 12 from the obligation to get tested when crossing the border to make it easier for tourists to enter the country this season.
Last year, according to data from the Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ), children aged 7-16 generated 890,000 arrivals and slightly over seven million overnight stays, which is 16% of the 43,000,000 overnight stays generated by foreign tourists last year.
Children aged 7-16 account for a sixth of the overnight stays generated by foreign tourists in Croatia, and taking into account that those children have two parents accompanying them, the implications for domestic tourism, if the conditions do not change, could be drastic, Jutarnji List said.
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